Royce Simmons to St Helens

[giwildgo]

I recall having this same conversation with my relatives over the signing of Millward, they all thought he was a poor signing, had won nothing, he went ok as a coach until he started insulting everyone. Still the most successful Saints coach ever.

Some would say that Lightning doesn't necessarily strike twice in the same place.

The most damning indictment of him is from a West Tigers forum that I read where a high proportion of posters are both shocked and elated that someone has taken him off their hands.

We'll have to wait and see how it works out - but rather underwhelming would be assessment of him getting the gig.

[DiH68]

Give the guy a chance - and I don't just say that because he's a mate

He's always been brilliant with younger players - they loved him at Hull, he brought through a lot of the players who won the Premiership at Penrith a year or so after he left, and the Tigers youngsters all look up to him.

He's assistant coach of Australia, he's been assistant coach of NSW. He's assistant coach of a team that's won the NRL Premiership. And he's very very highly regarded by Tim Sheens.

He's supremely professional, he knows the game inside out, and he always gets the respect of players.

He may not be that young anymore (he's 51), but the flip side of that is that he has the experience.

He's a top bloke too, who I'm sure the fans will take to if they give him a chance.

Oh yes, and it was five marathons in five days when he was at Hull, to get the money to buy Des Hasler.

Royce has been really keen to go back to England, so there's no doubt he'll give this job everything. I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes. I just hope he's given a fair chance to make his mark

[boxhead]

Shaun Mcrae, no one had heared of before he came to Saints

Hanley had no coaching career to speak of before Saints

Milward was coach of Leigh had not won anything

Daniel Anderson was NZ coach, but I maybe wrong in thinking that they were not going great guns at that time.

Potter well we'll see what he does this year but he was SL coach of the year so could be argued he was an up and coming young coach making a name for himself.

I think Royce will do well if he gains the respect of the players and installs some discipline in defence that has been costing us recently. Defending down the pitch we look great we can keep a team pegged in their own half for a few sets of 6 per match, but once a penalty is given and they march down field our line defence looks pretty pourous.

So a bit more steal in line defense and a few new ideas in attack would not go astray. If he then gets a full season out of Eastmond, I think Saints will be there or there abouts. Also I don't see many big name coaches from oz coming over any time soon. Can't remember the last one really, most have been assistants looking to progress their name and then go back to take a head coach role. I suppose Bluey was the last successful coach, international, but successful. The rest have all been understudy including the current incumbants at most clubs.

Can anyone name the last NRL head coach to come to the UK. Unless you count Shaun Mcrae to Salford.

Nathan Brown.

[MrPosh]

Nathan Brown.

Had left St George long before he took over at the Giants.

[Dave T]

I recall having this same conversation with my relatives over the signing of Millward, they all thought he was a poor signing, had won nothing, he went ok as a coach until he started insulting everyone. Still the most successful Saints coach ever.

But Millward was a young up and coming coach, who had shown a lot of promise with Leigh.

[bewareshadows]

Nathan Brown.

I'm very sorry I was under the impression he was only an assistant coach.

I stand corrected, you can get Ozzie coaches to come over.

Brown was appointed coach of the Dragons for the 2003 season, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in years in the NRL at age 29. During his first season, at a match on Sunday 13, April 2003 against Manly at WIN Stadium, a frustrated Nathan Brown berated skipper Trent Barrett, Brett Firman and Lance Thompson on the sideline in the 53rd minute with the scores locked up at 12-all. Brown slapped Barrett across the cheek and grabbed the jerseys of Barrett and Thompson. The incident was seen by the crowd and other players on the big screen and proved a decisive turning point as Manly ran in five second half tries to win 38-12. After the match, Brown was apologetic to Barrett and was later fined $5,000 by the NRL. [citation needed]

After finishing second in the 2005 competition, Brown's team lost the preliminary final to the eventual premiers, Wests Tigers. Following many injuries and team losses throughout the 2007 season, he was under pressure to keep his job heading into the 2008 season.

On 1 April 2008, it was announced that Brown would not coach the Dragons in the 2009 season, ending an association with the club that stretches back to his first grade debut in the Winfield Cup. He was replaced by Wayne Bennett.[2] on 18 July 2008 it was announced that Brown had signed a 3 year deal with English Super League team, Huddersfield Giants, the same club Tigers superstar Brett Hodgson joined.

In his first season at Huddersfield he took the team to the 2009 Challenge Cup final.

[bewareshadows]

But Millward was a young up and coming coach, who had shown a lot of promise with Leigh.

Time will tell I suppose. I'm a Saint so obviously I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt, just very surprised that so many people are ready to bury him before he's even got on a plane.I'll have to bookmark this thread for future referance.

Nothing like a good bit of I told you so when history proves you to be correct.

[bobbruce]

As has already been said in recent seasons Saints haven't really gone for big name coaches.Though it could be argued that during most of SL they haven't really needed one because of the quality of the senior players at the club.The last couple and certainly the next few years are slightly different and I think they would be better with a more experienced head coach.

[foozler]

Not sure quite who people were expecting Saints to appoint?

I'm sure Simmons will do just fine, he's plenty of experience and came across pretty well when I saw him give a talk at Headingley last year during the 4 Nations. I believe he's had a fair bit of experience bringing on youngsters which Saints will be relying on over the next few years as the team transitions.

[Dave T]

Time will tell I suppose. I'm a Saint so obviously I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt, just very surprised that so many people are ready to bury him before he's even got on a plane.I'll have to bookmark this thread for future referance.

Nothing like a good bit of I told you so when history proves you to be correct.

I've been pretty consistent with my comments on appointments like this. If he had an English accent he would never get a top level job again.

People are simply offering their opinion, bookmarking this thread could also make you look pretty stupid too, so probably best just to let people have their opinion.